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Bi-Lo announces 13 grocery stores to close, but adds more than 130 in acquisition deal

Bi-Lo Holdings announced Tuesday that the company will close 13 grocery stores, eight of those in Florida. But the company is picking up another 134 as part of a huge acquisition deal approved by federal regulators.

The parent company of Jacksonville-based BI-LO and Winn-Dixie supermarkets said in a news release that the majority of stores were acquired by the business in last year’s agreement for acquisition of the Delhaize Group which included Sweetbay, Harveys and Reid’s supermarkets in the Southeast. Three of the stores closing are Sweetbays, two are Harveys and three are Reid’s. One of the closing Harveys is located in Green Cove Springs and is slated to close May 3. Some of the closures will begin as soon as March 22 and will continue through July 12.

Four Winn-Dixies and one BI-LO store will also be closing under the plan, which the news release said was due primarily to geographic proximity to other stores owned by the company. The statement from the company also said the Federal Trade Commission has given final approval for the Delhaize acquisition to proceed by Bi-Lo Holdings.

“Given the number of stores we are acquiring, we anticipate that we may be asked by the FTC to divest some stores to close the deal,” said Bi-Lo Holdings CEO R. Randall Onstead. “We appreciate the many contributions our associates in these stores have made and we will ensure they are treated respectfully and have the opportunity to pursue other open positions in nearby stores.”

The news release had no figures on number of employees impacted by the closures. But Bi-Lo spokesman Brian Wright said despite the closures that were part of the acquisition deal that should be complete by the end of May, the company will be picking up an additional 134 stores on top of the current figure which is about 700 stores. That figure will make Bi-Lo the fifth largest grocery store owner in the country.

“The Jacksonville-based company is growing. Part of the concessions [of the acquisition deal] is closing some,” Wright said.

The latest closings of the Delhaize stores, especially for the Green Cove Springs location, comes on the heels of tumultuous times for the company and employees.

Delhaize America announced in December it is going to close its distribution center in Green Cove Springs and lay off 116 employees.

But Bi-Lo Holdings announced in May that it was buying Harvey’s, Sweetbay and Reid’s for $265 million cash. Officials said the distribution center on J.P. Hall Boulevard, which services 73 Harvey’s stores in Florida and Georgia, will no longer be needed.

Other stores on the latest closing list are located in Georgia and South Carolina.